Broken Snow
by RorickTrevelyan
Summary: Ruby and her team are getting ready to leave for a day on the town when someone crashes through their window. And she looks just like Ruby. Because she is Ruby! She's come back to warn of a plot to kill...Weiss? [WhiteRose] Rated M for language and sexual situations. Also scenes depicting torture, so be warned. Read, Review and Enjoy!


Broken Snow

"Where is she?!" the man asked. Ruby just spit in his face, a mixture of blood and saliva.

"Fuck. You," she said through her teeth. The man replaced the iron on her abdomen and let her flesh burn underneath. Ruby grit her teeth more but didn't shout. The iron was cooling, it would be another fifteen minutes until it was hot enough. He'd have to resort to the whip again. She started mentally counting down the minutes as he put the iron back in the fire.

"You will break, you know that right?" he asked. She didn't look at him just let her head hang. He hit the chains with the handle of the whip. "Even with your speed, you can't break these. No one knows where you are, and the only way the pain will stop is if you tell me where she is."

"And I'll tell you this, you can take that whip, shove it up your ass sideways. That way when I get out of here," she slowly started to rise and put tension on the chains. "I can shove my fist down your throat and pull that whip out by the leather strap!"

He promptly struck her in the face and sent her flying back. She rose again and hung on the chains.

"You truly don't know when to give up, what hope do you hold on to?"

The door creaked behind him and he turned to see her scarred face.

"That one." Ruby used her chains to her advantage, swinging her legs around and kicking him into the fires. She froze the chains so that Ruby could break out of them and held her hand for a moment.

"They cut it off?!" she asked.

"Now's not the time sweetie, do you have it?"

"Yes," she said quickly. She reached into her bag and grabbed the two bracelets, both whirring loudly with tech. "These should work."

"And here I thought I was done with handcuffs."

"We both know you like those," she responded with a smirk. She gave Ruby a white cloak and hood and the ring off of her necklace.

"No! Weiss I won't take it!" Ruby said with tears.

"Ruby you don't have a choice!" Weiss laid down a long series of glyphs spiraling toward the center. "Run."

"I'm not going without you." Weiss held her hand out and put the ring on her middle finger.

"Yes you are," she said quietly. The alarm started blaring at that moment. "GO!"

Ruby ran using the glyphs as her checkpoints, spiraling closer and closer as she reached speeds that she thought would kill her. She ran right into a gunshot but a large white flash carried her away.

"Go." Weiss said quietly.

XXX

"Go where?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know but somewhere in the city!" Ruby said with excitement. At first she thought her leaders hyperactivity was annoying but after a while she'd almost found it endearing.

"I'm down, it'd be fun, we got the day off anyway." Yang said. Weiss already knew what Yang wanted to do, she probably had plans with Neptune. He and Weiss had never really clicked, but it was still irritating to see the two gallivanting off together, besides it was probably only casual hook-ups if she knew anything about Yang.

"We could go to that new bookstore, it just opened up yesterday," Blake suggested. Weiss admitted that would be pretty fun, she'd been looking for something new to read ever since she finished her last novel for the second time.

"I'd go," Yang said happily. "They've got the new issues of 'X-ray and Vav'! And I need to catch up." Weiss just sighed mentally.

"It's settled then we're going!" Ruby froze in place and her face fell. Yang and Blake noticed first.

"Ruby?" Yang asked. Weiss looked up and saw the look in her eyes.

"Ruby?" Weiss asked. Ruby started falling backwards but before anyone could catch her the glass windows in their room shattered and soon there was a woman collapsed right beside Ruby. Both of which were knocked out cold. The woman's white cloak clashed with Ruby's and covered her identity. The only thing they could figure out was that the one in the white cloak was bleeding badly. Everything was quiet for a moment as the dust settled.

XXX

Ruby groaned as she woke up, yawning and stretching. "Oh no, did I fall asleep?" she asked looking at their faces. They were all shocked and huddled around Ruby's bed. Wait.

"Ruby are you okay?" Yang moved closer to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why am I on Blake's bed?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

"Well, it's kind of weird," Blake admitted.

"Why?" They all moved and she saw the woman laying in her bed. "Is she okay?" She rushed to her and froze as she saw her face.

Every detail about her face was perfectly copied. Ruby was staring at her own face laying in her own bed. She began shaking. Yang quickly held her up when she looked like she was going to fall down again.

"Yeah, we're confused too," Yang said.

"Do you know her Ruby?" Weiss asked. Ruby slowly shook her head.

"When did she get here?" Ruby asked quietly, her voice betraying her.

"Like two seconds before you passed out," Blake said. The room was quiet for a few more minutes until they could hear the other woman start to groan quietly. They turned back to her and watched her writhe on the bed. Finally she moved her head over towards them.

"Where am I?" she asked quietly. Ruby moved closer toward her and held her hand. She finally saw the missing finger, a bloody nub where her ring finger was. She pulled back out of shock which caused the woman to recoil and lurch up on the bed. It was then that they all got a good look at her body.

Burns. Laceration scars. Incisions. Stripes from a whip. She had missing hair and part of her ear had been cut off. This girl was tortured, badly. She nearly stood on the bed and held her hands out in front of her as if ready for a fight.

"It's okay, you're safe!" Ruby said.

"That word means nothing!" she said bitterly. She kept her gaze on Ruby until someone else came into view. The woman watched Weiss walk in and sprinted off the bed and dove to hug her. The familiar rose petals appeared and the only sounds were the gently weeping of the naked woman attached to Weiss. Weiss' face flushed red and eventually the crying woman was led back into Ruby's bed where she slept the rest of the night. Weiss didn't say anything but now Ruby and Weiss were scared out of their wits.

"Well this sucks," Yang said.

XXX

Weiss hadn't said anything at all for the next couple of days, she was till stuck on what had happened. And older version of Ruby had shown up naked and hugged her. As disconcerting as it was, she hadn't been able to tell anyone what the older Ruby said to her. She wasn't quite sure what it meant herself, so she didn't feel comfortable sharing it with the others. She sat on the floor across the way from the older Ruby, staring at her sleeping face.

"They won't hurt you I promise, just don't leave."

She tried to keep reading but she'd read the same page for the last hour. Blake and Yang burst into the room with Ruby trailing behind carrying the hot bowl.

"Hot!" she repeated as she finally set the bowl down.

"What is that?" Weiss asked.

"Chicken noodle soup, it's my favorite so it might hers too," Ruby said nervously. Everyone had been on edge since the Ruby clone arrived. She'd been asleep for the past couple days but she stirred at the mention of the soup. Weiss hurriedly stood and moved for the door.

"Weiss, where are you going?" Blake asked.

"Just outside," Weiss snapped.

"Weiss?" the voice asked. The older Ruby leaned up and covered herself this time. "Do you still have that metal nail file?" she asked. Weiss was astonished, she'd never told anyone about that. It sounded silly but she didn't want anybody messing with it.

"Yes," she said. She tried to sound calm but it failed. Her voice wavered.

"Can I see it?" Weiss nodded and moved to retrieve it. "Yang, do you still have that lighter?"

"Yeah do you need it?" She nodded. She'd already gotten the file and began working on the bit of bone stuck from her finger. Weiss wanted her to stop but she'd quickly achieved what she wanted to do. She took the lighter and began heating the file. The file started changing color rapidly until it was glowing red. Weiss' eyes widened in realization but before she could do anything the woman placed the burning metal against the still bleeding nub. The smells were awful but she seemed satisfied with her work.

"What did you do?!" Weiss asked snatching away the metal and lighter.

"The bone was broken and wouldn't repair, so I ground it off and cauterized the wound. It'll heal better now," she said. "I'm sorry for scaring all of you, I hadn't meant to."

"Are you ready to talk about what happened now?" Ruby asked softly. The older woman nodded.

"I'm sure you already know who I am," she said.

"Let's just all be on the same page." Yang told her moving chairs around her, so she could sit comfortably on the bed.

"I am Ruby Rose," the woman said. No one was shocked but everyone was still on edge. "But not from here."

"From where then?" Weiss asked.

"I'm," she paused and toyed with the nub on her left hand. "24." The room was quiet again. She nervously kept toying with the nub.

"What are you saying?" Blake asked.

"In simple terms I'm from the future, do you still have those bracelets that were on my arms?" Yang nodded and grabbed them. "I'm sure you recognize these, Weiss."

"That's Schnee technology, we're still developing those."

"Not just any Schnee. You, specifically. You completed these."

"I did?" Weiss asked.

"What are they?" Yang asked.

"They were meant to be able to discern the location of a certain object and find them, almost as a teleportation, but we couldn't get it to work. What changed?" Weiss asked.

"You did, you discovered the flaw, and put you on the breakthrough of something else."

"What?"

"Time-travel." Ruby said. The younger Ruby's eyes widened and she was enamored.

"REALLY?!" The younger Ruby asked. The others were rather skeptical.

"Yes, this isn't a joke, I wouldn't be here if it was."

"But, what do you mean time travel, I understand the teleportation it was supposed to do, but how did that jump to time travel?"

"The keys of these bracelets was that it was supposed to find an item and go to it, but an item can't be at two places at once, but they can if you consider the time line." She held the two bracelets out in a line. "If, say, a container of dust is here, and it goes missing somewhere in here, you can't use this to find it. But what you could do was go to the last place it was, but not geographically,"

"Chronologically," Weiss finished.

"Exactly."

"Weiss are you saying you invent time travel?!" Blake asked.

"In a way, but there's are problems, number one, these things are risky. There's no telling where or when you'll end up, you weren't able to test them fully before," she paused and tried to regain her composure.

"Before what?" Weiss asked. The older woman started crying.

"Before they killed Winter," she hadn't finished the sentence before she started sobbing heavily. Weiss felt her heart sink.

"You're lying!" she said near tears herself.

"Weiss I wouldn't lie to you!" she pleaded through her sobs.

"Why would they kill Winter?!" Weiss asked angrily.

"Because they thought she'd come up with the plans. She was working on it, you'd found it and just tinkered because you were bored. You told her what happened and showed her, that was the night before we found her," she surrendered to the sobs again.

"Wait, you and I found her?" Weiss asked. The older Ruby could only nod. "Why you and I?"

"Because we were still friends, Yang had gone traveling and Blake was in Vacuo helping with the reconstruction. You and I stayed friends," she hadn't stopped sobbing even as the others calmed down.

"So then what happened?" the younger Ruby asked.

"We reported it to the police, and they'd begun investigating, saying they found something. You were working so you asked me to check it out. I was riding Bumblebee when they sideswiped me. When I woke up I was naked and chained to the wall. They cut off my ring finger to send a message to you. But you and I had a plan."

"What plan?" Weiss asked.

"You were going to send me back in time, you were convinced someone in the Atlas Schnee head quarters was responsible for this. You sent me back here to help make sure this never happened."

"Why would I assume that?"

"You never said, after they took me you disappeared, I had no idea where you were but you were in communication with me."

"How?"

"I don't know. But I could hear your voice clearly and I could speak to you without them noticing."

Weiss thought for a moment. She finally stood up and reached toward her ear. "May I?"

The older Ruby nodded.

Weiss poked inside her ear and saw it.

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"It's a two way microphone, it receives the vibration from the vocal chords and sends it through the device. Then when she receives the voice it directly vibrates the bones in her inner ear."

"Don't laugh Yang," the older Ruby said suddenly. Weiss was confused until she turned to Yang's reddening face and grin.

"Oh c'mon she said vibrating bones!" Yang said with a giggle.

"But this is still in development at the company, these aren't anywhere near ready for use yet. But that's very clearly Schnee technology."

"The benefits of being ten years ahead."

"So then we know what to do!" Yang said.

"What, just march up to the Schnee company and tell them that a woman from the future is coming with a warning that someone is going to kill people?!" Weiss asked.

"Yeah that might work," Blake said.

"I have these," the older Ruby held up the bracelets. "Even if all we can do is talk to Winter, this is her project, she'll know what this means."

Weiss thought for a moment, she still had a thousand questions but at least for now, the immediate danger would be over.

"Ruby, Blake, and Yang: go get an airship, I'll call my sister and set up the meeting. Yang, she'll have to wear some of your clothes, she won't fit in any others.

"Cool, she can go through whatever she needs." The others left the room and almost immediately Weiss tried to rip the ring off of her finger.

"No please don't take it!" she begged and Weiss jolted back.

"Why do you have it?!"

The older Ruby held the ring tightly as Weiss bore down on her. "You gave it to me!" she shouted.

"Why would I give it to you?! It doesn't belong to you!" Weiss again went to grab it but Ruby kept it tight in her hands. "It belong-."

"To your mother I know that's why I used it for the tattoo!" The other Ruby kept quiet.

"What tattoo?" Weiss asked. She pointed to her non-existent ring finger.

"I had a tattoo on this finger, it's why they cut this finger off to give to you."

"What did it have on it?" Weiss asked. The older Ruby hesitated for too long. "What was it?!" She shouted.

"Our wedding ring!" she shouted back. "You were this big public figure and I was worried that you'd get in trouble but you still wanted to get married. So I borrowed the ring and had an exact copy tattooed onto my ring finger, when I showed you," she kept crying. "You loved it, and you did the same thing."

Weiss was beyond shocked. In this alternate future, she and Ruby were married. She left the room as Ruby started changing. She felt her whole face turn bright red and felt the heat in her body. She couldn't have known. She kept those feelings a secret for a reason, ever since their trip to Vale before the dance.

XXX

"Why here?" Weiss deadpanned. She'd been dragged to yet another store by Ruby, it was their day off and Ruby was looking for a dress for the dance.

"Cause they have cool dresses!"

"You couldn't possibly afford them," Weiss reminded. Ruby hung her head a bit.

"Well true but I can still look." Weiss had waited by the dressing rooms as Ruby tried on dress after dress. None of them had really drawn her attention until she walked out in one in particular. "How's it look?" she asked.

Weiss could barely contain herself. She'd never really seen it before, or cared enough to pay attention, but here and now she could say with unwavering certainty:

Ruby was absolutely beautiful. The dress hung on her and accentuated her figure, she wasn't traditionally built, but she wasn't traditional in any other way either. The dress had no straps but was held up by a single piece of fabric that connected at the back of her neck. It left her entire back exposed, covering just above her tailbone. The fabric was the same deep red she'd gotten used to seeing her in. It never occurred to Weiss how much she really admired the color on her until now.

"It's different," was all Weiss could say.

"Yeah. No way I could wear this to the dance, Miss Goodwitch would have a fit."

"But maybe you could save it for a special occasion," Weiss said.

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't afford it," Ruby admitted. She changed and found a far simpler dress. Weiss went behind her and bought it for her. It would make a great present if anything. She looked over at her leader and started to admire her shape even through her normal attire. The simple corset and sweater combination was flattering on her to say the least. She shoved those thoughts away and continued to walk with her. It was nothing.

XXX

It wasn't nothing. Even now Weiss couldn't keep her eyes off of the older Ruby. Even with Yang's generous measurements, the older Ruby was spilling out of her clothes. If she didn't have the white cloak and hood to cover her, she might have had a wardrobe malfunction just walking down the street. It didn't help that she was over 6'5. Given how short the younger Ruby was it was amazing to see the difference those ten years could make.

"Hey Weiss!" the younger Ruby shouted garnering her attention. "What's our ETA?" The ship was pretty loud hence Ruby's shouting.

"About ten minutes!" Weiss shouted back. She looked over at Yang and Blake who were having their own conversations with the older Ruby. The younger Ruby was still having difficulty adjusting to all of this, understandably.

"So what is the future like?" Blake asked.

"Not to much different, still Grimm, still huntsmen and huntresses, but on the plus side there's a lot more now," Ruby said.

"So you said you were driving bumblebee?" Yang asked.

"Yes it was your present to me when I turned 20 and got my license."

"Why in the world would I give you my bike?" Yang asked skeptically.

"Because you'd just gotten a new one, which you named Bumblebee II like it was a movie sequel."

"That does sound like something I'd do." They all shared a laugh as Weiss watched the older Ruby. For the first time since she had met her, she really believed she saw hope in the older Ruby's eyes. The airship hit turbulence as it began it's landing. Weiss gulped as she saw Winter pacing on the landing pad.

"Let me go first okay?" They all nodded as the air filled with tension. The door opened as the airship landed and Weiss walked out first. Winter and Weiss both bowed to each other as they spoke the others waited inside the airship, at Weiss' request. It seemed the conversation was civil but the older Ruby was worried through it all. Finally Winter nodded and began walking away. Weiss turned back and nodded getting all of them off the ship. They walked silently into Winter's office.

"If I find you are lying, Weiss," Winter began.

"I understand."

"Which one is she?" Weiss pointed to the older Ruby."You have them with you?"

The older Ruby nodded and gave the bracelets to her. Winter's shock was easy to see. She moved around to the front of her desk and began examining them.

"What is this?" Winter asked.

"Don't ask me, Weiss fixed it after you. It was an accident."

"Yes, that was mentioned," Winter said with an amount of disdain in her voice. "So you claim you are from the near future?"

"Just ten years."

"And in which time you expect me to believe that I will be murdered for the sake of my invention which I didn't make?"

"We didn't want anything to happen Winter. Weiss didn't mean for anything-."

"Right and I'm expected to believe that my sister, who is eight years younger than me, miraculously fixed and made work, my own invention."

"Winter please, she's telling the truth." Weiss defended.

"Quiet you."

"Don't blame this on Weiss, I never wanted any of this to happen. I was already scared enough with all the attention she was getting."

"You speak of my sister as if you know her, who are you really? A petty thief, way over her head? It's the only reason to believe this deplorable story of yours."

The older Ruby began to shrink away.

"So unless you can come up with hard proof that you actually managed to get these blasted gauntlets to work, I will have you arrested for grand larceny." Winter met the edge of Weiss' rapier.

"Winter step away." Weiss threatened. In a flash Winter had her weapon drawn and had disarmed Weiss.

"You dare threaten me, sister?" Weiss hadn't flinched but stared down Winter.

"When you threaten my friends, believe I would do much worse Winter."

"I see your time away has sharpened your tongue, and dulled your wit." She moved to slash, aiming to cut off hair and nothing more but the blood still came. The older Ruby had taken the Crescent Rose and had caught Winter's sword bare-handed.

"You won't hurt Weiss." Winter looked at her blade shocked, looking at the four fingered hand.

"Is this some sort of joke Weiss?"

"What?"

"That foolish recording you sent ta few days ago."

"What recording?" Winter let go of her sword and Ruby let the sword fall. Her blood fell for a moment before her aura closed the wound.

"If you get this Winter, believe me it will shock me more than you. Maybe it will be the four fingered lady that finally gets you to listen to it" The older Ruby's eyes widened. "This recording comes from the bracelets, it means Ruby made it, she's back. I don't know when but hopefully enough that she can save you."

The older Ruby fell to her knees listening to the recording.

"I believe, that I know who was responsible for all of this, Ruby's kidnapping, your murder, the attempts on my life, I know who caused it."

"Who was it?" Ruby asked quietly.

"But in case it's not you Winter, you won't be able to know until a password is entered, there are files there that contain a laundry list against this man, spanning to when I was still in Beacon."

"If you knew about this why didn't you contact me sooner?" Weiss asked.

"I never listened this far," Winter admitted.

"And you'll only get the password when you meet with Ruby. And if Ruby is there then play this out loud, if not, don't play it."

"That's you isn't it?" Winter asked. Ruby nodded with tears in her eyes. Winter reached down and kept playing the message.

"Ruby, if you're there I want you to know: I'll be okay." They could hear an alarm behind them and people shouting. "And you need to promise me this, if something happens, I want you to move on. I want you to live your life okay? Promise me that. Right now if you can," they could hear the tears in Weiss' voice.

"I promise," Ruby said tearfully.

"Ruby, I love you so much." Everyone's eyes widened collectively as Ruby knelt next to the scroll in tears. "We'll see each other soon right? We'll go on that trip? You can wear that dress I bought you, if it even still fits. I'll wear that necklace you got me, and we'll go on vacation have a real honeymoon." Ruby sat sobbing at the scroll. "The password is the date you picked out for our wedding. And Ruby? Say hi to Blake and Yang for me, tell them I miss them too." The recording ended with a violent bang, the others knew it as a gunshot. Everyone in the room choked back tears, even as Ruby sat bawling. Winter was flustered and reached for her scroll again.

"Well what's the password?" Winter asked, but Ruby was still in tears.

"8516," Ruby said through tears. Winter entered the password and soon found a file. Winter wished it was silent but Ruby was still in tears. Needless to say it was awkward for Team RWBY.

"We've got it."

"Will it get him arrested?"

"More than that I think, but you all need to go."

"No," the older Ruby said. "I need to see him. I'll know for certain." Winter thought for a moment before she nodded.

XXX

The man strode in as Winter sat behind her desk. "You called for me Madam Schnee?" he asked with a bow.

"Tell me, how long have you worked for this company?"

"Just about ten years, madam."

"Impressive, where did you work before hand?"

"A few odd places, nothing of any note, why?"

"Really, nothing?"

"As I said nothing spectacular."

"I see."

"May I ask what this is about?"

"How long have you been a reverse engineer?" Winter asked. The man looked confused.

"I'm sorry a what?"

"You've never heard of them?" Winter asked, she rose from her seat and opened her scroll. "They are well-funded men and women who specialize in stealing technology still under development from certain companies and remaking them for others. Half corporate spies, half real spies."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"Well I just happened to look at your resume and see all the wonderful places you've worked, but of all of them there's one here that stands out."

"And that would be?"

"One of the Schnee's biggest competitors in the business market."

"Many individuals make transfers to better opportunities."

"Except you never actually applied to the Schnee company, you just somehow showed up here."

"That doesn't really implicate me in anything, Madam."

"No it doesn't. Not by itself." She picked up her scroll and began reading. "But, larceny, fraud, embezzlement, sexual harassment, and my personal favorite, assault of a superior officer." She stood again as two officers came in and began arresting him. "That does implicate you. Ruby?" The older Ruby walked out in her cape and looked him in the eyes. She turned to Winter and nodded. Winter shooed them off and looked Ruby in the eye. "It's over." The others came in as Ruby began to fade.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"What happens now?" the younger Ruby asked.

"I don't know. But remember what I told you, live your life. Be happy, me."

"Good-bye me!"

XXX

"Ruby can we talk?" Weiss asked. Blake and Yang had gone off to drink away what they had just witnessed.

"Yeah," Ruby said. Ruby and Weiss, perhaps unsurprisingly, had avoided talking to each other for a few days. It was awkward to say the least.

"What the older me said to the older you," she started.

"I understand Weiss, you don't feel the same. They were two different people."

"Ruby I do feel the same," Weiss said suddenly. "But all of that really scared me."

"Yeah me too," Ruby said with a sigh. Weiss got up and dug around for a moment under her bed. She gave Ruby the bag she'd gotten from the dress shop. Ruby knew exactly what it was.

"I was going to give it to you at say Christmas or your birthday, but I thought you would appreciate it."

"I love it!" She hugged Weiss tightly. Weiss was hesitant but soon melted into the hug. "And I'm okay with waiting, however long you need to."

"Thank you." Weiss grabbed her hand and smiled. "I won't make you wait long." Weiss said happily.

XXX

Older Ruby woke up on a bed again, she was naked but she looked and her body had no scars. She looked next to her and Weiss laid next to her just as naked as she was, holding her hand. Ruby smiled and looked down at her hand, her finger was back but instead of a tattoo there was something else. A beautiful gold band on her finger, carved with the date she'd picked out for their wedding.

"Mmm, Ruby?" Weiss asked. Ruby looked down and saw the simple smile on Weiss' face. Weiss rose up and kissed right beneath Ruby's collar bone. "You're up early." Weiss paused when she heard Ruby sniffle, Ruby was crying with the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "Ruby what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Ruby's smile was growing bigger and bigger. "Not a thing." She tackled Weiss and kissed her lightly.

"You're weird, but you're my weirdo." Ruby hugged her tightly and smiled.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

The End.


End file.
